Transaction Processing

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a method, a device, a computer readable storage medium and a computer program product for transaction processing on a blockchain. In the method, the blockchain node for processing a transaction receives a transaction request including a plurality of fields, the plurality of fields including a transaction task field including a plurality of clauses and each clause of the plurality of clauses indicating one of a plurality of tasks of the transaction. The blockchain node processes the plurality of tasks and determines that the transaction is successfully processed only in response to successfully processing all the plurality of tasks. The transaction processing as provided in the present disclosure enables multiple tasks to be processed through a single transaction procedure on the blockchain in an efficient way.

FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field oftransaction processing on a blockchain, and more particularly to amethod of transaction processing, a device for transaction processing, anon-transitory computer readable storage medium and a computer programproduct.

BACKGROUND

In the traditional blockchain transaction model, based on an accountmodel, a transaction-based state machine may store information, notrestricted to balance information. Moreover, with one or more smartcontracts, a blockchain platform may execute, based on consensus,various pre-designed codes to implement various transactions.

However, in the traditional blockchain transaction model, there arestill some shortcomings that are not suitable for real transactionapplication needs. For example, for real transaction applications, suchas fund distributions and mass product registration, it is desired toexecute multiple tasks as a whole. However, with the traditionalblockchain transaction model, the blockchain platform may only implementone task through one transaction procedure and could not implementmultiple tasks through only one transaction procedure, thus it is notflexible and efficient for the blockchain platform to deal with complexsituations in real transaction applications.

SUMMARY

In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide asolution for transaction processing, by which multiple transaction tasksin complex situations can be processed on the blockchain in an efficientway.

In a first aspect, there is provided a method of transaction processing.The method includes: receiving, at a blockchain node for processing atransaction in a blockchain, a transaction request including a pluralityof fields, the plurality of fields including a transaction task field,the transaction task field including a plurality of clauses and eachclause of the plurality of clauses indicating one task of a plurality oftasks of the transaction; processing the plurality of tasks of thetransaction; and only in response to successfully processing all theplurality of tasks, determining that the transaction is successfullyprocessed.

In a second aspect, there is provided a device for transactionprocessing. The device includes: a memory configured to store one ormore programs; and a processing unit coupled to the memory andconfigured to execute said one or more programs to cause the device toperform the method in the first aspect of the present disclosure.

In a third aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readablestorage medium having machine executable instructions stored thereon,the machine executable instructions, when executed, causing a machine toperform the method of the first aspect of the present disclosure.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a computer program product. Thecomputer program product is tangibly stored on a non-transient computerreadable medium and includes machine executable instruction, the machineexecutable instructions, when being executed, causing a machine toperform the method of the first aspect of the present disclosure.

It is to be understood that the summary section is not intended toidentify key or essential features of embodiments of the presentdisclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of thepresent disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will becomeeasily comprehensible through the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the presentdisclosure will be made more apparent by describing exemplaryembodiments of the present disclosure in more detail with reference tofigures, wherein identical reference signs represent identical parts inthe exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 illustrates a an architecture diagram of a transaction processingsystem according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of a transaction processing methodaccording to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of a method for processing the pluralityof transaction tasks according to embodiments of the present disclosure;and

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a block diagram of an example devicesuitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure.

In each drawing, same or corresponding signs indicate the same orcorresponding components.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with referenceto some example embodiments. It is to be understood that theseembodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and helpthose skilled in the art to understand and implement the presentdisclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of thedisclosure. The disclosure described herein can be implemented invarious manners other than the ones described below.

In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, alltechnical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning ascommonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which thisdisclosure belongs.

References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment,” “anembodiment,” “an example embodiment,” and the like indicate that theembodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includesthe particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, suchphrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further,when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described inconnection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within theknowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure,or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or notexplicitly described.

It shall be understood that although the terms “first” and “second” etc.may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements shouldnot be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguishone element from another. For example, a first element could be termedas a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed asa first element, without departing from the scope of exampleembodiments. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and allcombinations of one or more of the listed terms.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of exampleembodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” areintended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearlyindicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms“comprises”, “comprising”, “has”, “having”, “includes” and/or“including”, when used herein, specify the presence of stated features,elements, and/or components etc., but do not preclude the presence oraddition of one or more other features, elements, components and/orcombinations thereof.

As stated above, in the traditional transaction processing schemes, eachtransaction processed by the transaction processing node always relatesto one task. In this case, multiple tasks initiated by a same initiatorcannot be performed through only one transaction procedure. Therefore,it is not flexible and efficient for the blockchain platform to dealwith complex situations in real transaction applications.

In order to at least partially address one or more of the aboveproblems, as well as other potential problems, an example embodiment ofthe present disclosure proposes a transaction processing solution. Inthe solution, a blockchain node for processing a transaction in ablockchain receives a transaction request comprising a plurality offields, the plurality of fields comprising a transaction task fieldcomprising a plurality of clauses, each clause of the plurality ofclauses indicating one of a plurality of transaction tasks of atransaction. The blockchain node processes the plurality of transactiontasks of the transaction and determines that the transaction issuccessfully processed only in response to successfully processing allthe plurality of transaction tasks.

Herein, a task or a transaction task of the present disclosure may referto a separate operation on a blockchain to implement a specificfunction, which may be equivalent to a conventional transaction that isimplemented through a conventional transaction procedure in some sense.Correspondingly, a transaction of the present disclosure may include oneor more tasks or transaction tasks.

Unlike the traditional transaction processing scheme in which eachtransaction processed by a transaction processing node directs to onlyone task, in the above solution, by the transaction request comprising atransaction task field comprising a plurality of clauses, and eachclause of the plurality of clauses indicating one of a plurality oftasks of the transaction, multiple tasks indicated in a singletransaction request may be processed one by one in the order defined bythe transaction task field or in otherwise defined orders during theprocessing of the transaction request. In this case, multipletransaction tasks initiated by the same transaction initiator may beperformed as a whole. Therefore, the present disclosure provides moreflexibility and efficiency for blockchain nodes to deal with complexsituations in real transaction applications.

Principle and embodiments of the present disclosure will be described indetail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Reference isfirst made to FIG. 1, which illustrates an architecture diagram of atransaction processing system 100 according to embodiments of thepresent disclosure. As shown in FIG. 1, the system 100 comprises amanagement device 114, a plurality of blockchain nodes 112-1, 112-2 to112-N for processing blockchain transactions (i.e., transactionprocessing nodes 112), and a plurality of terminal devices 140, 142 and144. The management device 114 and the transaction processing nodes 112may all be blockchain nodes of the blockchain platform 110. Themanagement device 114, the transaction processing nodes 112, and theterminal devices 140, 142 and 144 perform data interaction via thenetwork 130.

It is to be understood that the number of the blockchain nodes and theterminal devices is only for purpose of illustration without suggestingany limitations. The system 100 may include any suitable number ofblockchain nodes and terminal devices adapted for implementingembodiments of the present disclosure.

The terminal device may be any end device that may include, but notlimited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a voiceover IP (VoIP) phone, a wireless local loop phone, a tablet, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a portable computer, a desktop computer, etc.The user 152 may initiate a request for a transaction through theterminal device 142, and the terminal device 142 or the managementdevice 114 may formalize the request from the terminal device 142 into acorresponding transaction request to be delivered to and processed bythe blockchain platform 110. The transaction request may indicate one ormore transaction tasks to be processed by the blockchain nodes 112. Insome embodiments, a wallet application can be run on the terminal device142. In order to use services provided by the management device 114, theuser 150 or 152 may register with the management device 114 via thewallet application, and obtain an associated account ID for uniquelyidentifying the user 150 or 152 at the management device 114.Furthermore, the user 150 or 152 may generate their own addressesthrough the wallet application to act as the initiator address orrecipient address for their blockchain transactions.

The management device 114 may be a network device for acting as a nodeof the blockchain platform 110. The management device 114 may include,but not limited to, one or more computers or servers. Via the managementdevice 114, the terminal devices 140, 142 and 144 may receive servicesfrom the blockchain platform 110. The management device 114 may receivetransaction requests from the registered users 150 and 152 viarespective terminal devices, and provide services to the registeredusers 150 and 152 via their addresses. The management device 114 may becapable of distributing the received transaction request on theblockchain platform 110 or transmitting the received transaction requestto any or all of the transaction processing nodes 112, so that thetransaction processing nodes 112 may compute a transaction fee andfurther process the transaction based on the received transactionrequest. The transaction request sent by the management device 114 maycomprise a plurality of fields. These fields may comprise at least atransaction task field comprising a plurality of clauses, and eachclause indicates one of a plurality of transaction tasks of atransaction. The plurality of transaction tasks of the transaction maybe of the same type or the different type. It is assumed that themanagement device 114 may transmit a transaction request in which thetransaction task field comprises three clauses (i.e., a first clause, asecond clause and a third clause). For example, the first clause mayindicate a transaction task for transferring an amount of cryptocurrencyto an address, the second clause indicates a transaction task forcalling a smart contract, and the third clause indicates a transactiontask for deploying a new smart contract. As such, it is possible toindicate a plurality of transaction tasks within one transactionrequest.

Regarding the blockchain platform 110, it is used to process blockchaintransactions and deposit transaction result data. Architecturally, theblockchain platform 110 comprises, for example, a basic service layer, asmart contract layer, and a blockchain bottom layer from up to down (notshown). The blockchain platform 110 may comprise the management device114 and the transaction processing nodes 112. Moreover, the blockchainplatform 110 may further include any or all of the terminal devices 140,142 and 144 if they may act as a blockchain node. In some embodiments,the blockchain platform 110 can be configured to a private blockchain, apublic blockchain, or a consortium blockchain.

The transaction processing node 112 may be a network device for actingas a node of the blockchain platform 110. The transaction processingnode 112 may include, but not limited to, one or more computers orservers. The transaction processing node 112 may be capable of receivinga transaction request from the management device 114 and computing atransaction fee based on the received transaction request. Thetransaction processing node 112 may further process a plurality oftransaction tasks indicated by the transaction task field included inthe received transaction request. After the execution of thetransaction, the transaction processing node 112 may further determinewhether the transaction is processed successfully by determining whetherthe plurality of transaction tasks are all successfully processed. If itis determined that the plurality of transaction tasks are allsuccessfully processed, the transaction processing node 112 maydetermine that the transaction is processed successfully and return asuccessful transaction response to the management device 114. Otherwise,if any of the plurality of transaction tasks is not successfullyprocessed, for example, due to insufficient account balance, systemerrors or any other reasons, the transaction processing node 112 maydetermine that the transaction is not processed successfully and returna failure transaction response to the management device 114. In otherwords, although a plurality of transaction tasks are included in asingle transaction request, executions of the plurality of transactiontasks can be considered as an atomic operation. In this way, it ispossible for the management device 114 to monitor whether thetransaction including the multiple transaction tasks is processedsuccessfully as a whole, without monitoring whether each task isprocessed successfully.

Reference is now made to FIG. 2, which shows a flowchart of atransaction processing method 200 according to embodiments of thepresent disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 200 willbe described with reference to FIG. 1. The method 200 may involve thetransaction processing node 112 as illustrated in FIG. 1. In FIG. 2,various actions are performed, for example, by a processor of thetransaction processing node 112 as shown in FIG. 1. The method 200 mayalso include additional actions not shown and/or may omit the actionsshown, the scope of the disclosure being not limited in this respect.

At block 202, the transaction processing node 112 receives a transactionrequest comprising a plurality of fields. The plurality of fields maycomprise a transaction task field comprising a plurality of clauses.Each clause indicates one of a plurality of transaction tasks of atransaction. For example, the transaction processing node 112 receives atransaction request from the management device 114. The receivedtransaction request may comprise at least a field for indicating thetransaction initiator, a field for indicating the recipient address anda transaction task field for indicating transaction tasks. For example,the transaction task field may indicate a set of clauses. Each clauseindicates one of the transaction tasks, such as calling a smartcontract, transferring an amount of cryptocurrency to an address, ordeploying a new smart contract. With the set of clauses definingtransaction tasks, it is possible for the blockchain nodes to processmultiple transaction tasks based on one received transaction request,rather than multiple transaction requests.

In some embodiments, each clause in the transaction task field mayinclude one or more information elements for defining a transactiontask. For example, each clause includes at least one of the following: afirst information element, a second information element and a thirdinformation element. The first information element may indicate arecipient address associated with the transaction task, the secondinformation element may indicate an amount of cryptocurrency to betransferred to the recipient address, and the third information elementmay indicate data for the transaction task indicated by the clause.

In some scenarios, the first information element may refer to an element“To”, the second information element may refer to an element “Value”,and the third information element may refer to an element “Data”. Thatis, each clause has a To-Value-Data structure. For example, the element“Data” may indicate program codes for account initialization or inputdata. It would be appreciated that although each clause has beendescribed as including three information elements for defining atransaction task, in some other cases, each clause may contain moreinformation elements to indicate or define the transaction task.

In some embodiments, the transaction task indicated by the clause is notdependent on a further transaction task indicated by a further clause ofthe plurality of clauses. For example, the plurality of transactiontasks included in a single transaction request may be independent fromeach other. In some embodiments, the plurality of transaction tasks mayinclude at least two associated transaction tasks in which one taskindicated by the clause is dependent on another task indicated byanother clause of the plurality of clauses such that the task can beimplemented only after the another task has been implemented. Forexample, one transaction task included in a single transaction requestmay indicate to deploy a new smart contract and another transaction taskincluded in the transaction request may indicate to execute the newsmart contract with some specific parameters.

At block 204, the transaction processing node 112 processes theplurality of transaction tasks based on the received transactionrequest.

As stated above, each clause in the received transaction request mayinclude a first information element, a second information element and athird information element for defining a transaction task. In thissituation, if the transaction processing node 112 determines that thefirst information element included in a clause is null, this indicatesthat this clause is to deploy a new smart contract and the program codesof the new smart contract are contained in the third information element(Data). Therefore, the transaction processing node 112 will deploy thenew smart contract based on the third information element included inthe same clause and transfer the amount indicated in the secondinformation element to the newly deployed smart contract. In this case,the second information element may indicate an amount of cryptocurrencyto be transferred to the newly deployed smart contract, and the thirdinformation element may indicate data for deploying the smart contract.The data for deploying the smart contract may include command fordeploying the smart contract and program codes of the smart contract tobe deployed.

In some embodiments, if the transaction processing node 112 determinesthat the first information element indicates a valid address, then thetransaction processing node 112 determines whether the first informationelement indicates a smart contract address. On one hand, if thetransaction processing node 112 further determines that the firstinformation element indicates a smart contract address, then thetransaction processing node 112 will call the smart contractcorresponding to the smart contract address based on the thirdinformation element and transfer the amount of cryptocurrency indicatedin the second information element to the smart contract. In this case,the data indicated by the third information element includes parametersfor executing the smart contract. On the other hand, if the transactionprocessing node 112 determines that that the first information elementindicates a non-smart-contract address (i.e., a normal wallet address orblockchain address), then the transaction processing node 112 transfersthe amount indicated in the second information element to thenon-smart-contract address. Upon the determination of the informationelements included in each clause, the transaction processing node 112may determine and process all the transaction tasks within the receivedtransaction request one by one.

The determination and processing of transaction tasks will be discussedin detail with reference to FIG. 3, which shows a method 300 fordetermining and processing the plurality of transaction tasks accordingto embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 300 may alsoinclude additional actions not shown and/or may omit the actions shown,the scope of the disclosure being not limited in this respect.

In the method 300, at block 302, the transaction processing node 112determines whether the first information element is null. If it isdetermined at block 302 that the first information element is null, atblock 304, the transaction processing node 112 deploys a smart contractbased on the third information element. Furthermore, the transactionprocessing node 112 may further transfer the amount indicated in thesecond information element to the smart contract, if any amount isindicated in the second information element. If it is determined atblock 302 that the first information element is not null, at block 306,the transaction processing node 112 determines whether the firstinformation element indicates a valid address. If it is determined atblock 306 that the first information element indicates a valid address,at block 308, the transaction processing node 112 will determine whetherthe first information element indicates a smart contract address. If asmart contract address is determined to be indicated, at block 310, thetransaction processing node 112 calls and executes the smart contractbased on the third information element. In this case, the thirdinformation element may include parameters for executing the smartcontract. The executed smart contract is previously deployed in theblockchain platform 110. Furthermore, the transaction processing node112 may further transfer the amount indicated in the second informationelement to the smart contract, if any amount is indicated in the secondinformation element. On the other hand, if a non-smart-contract addressis determined to be indicated, at block 312, the transaction processingnode 112 transfers an amount indicated in the second information elementto the non-smart-contract address.

Turning back to FIG. 2, at block 206, the transaction processing node112 determines the transaction is successfully processed only if thetransaction processing node 112 successfully processes all the pluralityof tasks. In some embodiments, the transaction processing node 112determines whether all the plurality of tasks have been successfullyprocessed, and if the transaction processing node 112 determines thatall the transaction tasks indicated by the plurality of clauses aresuccessfully processed, the transaction processing node 112 willdetermine that the transaction defined by the transaction request isprocessed successfully. In this case, the transaction processing node112 may further return a successful transaction response to themanagement device 114. In some other embodiments, if the transactionprocessing node 112 determines that any one of the transaction tasksfails to be successfully processed, the transaction processing node 112determines that the transaction defined by the transaction request failsto be processed successfully. In this case, the transaction processingnode 112 may further return a failure transaction response to themanagement device 114.

In the above solution, with a transaction request including atransaction task field including a plurality of clauses for defining aplurality of transaction tasks of a transaction, the multipletransaction tasks contained in a single transaction request can beprocessed one by one in the order defined by the plurality of clauses orin otherwise defined orders during the processing of the transactionrequest. In this case, multiple transaction tasks initiated by the sametransaction initiator can be performed as a whole. Therefore, thepresent disclosure provides more flexibility for blockchain nodes todeal with complex situations in real transaction applications. Moreover,due to the plurality of transaction tasks being processed one by one (inthe order defined by the plurality of clauses or other predefinedorders), it can also provide a secure and efficient way to describe atransaction with multiple steps.

Moreover, as mentioned above, by the transaction processing node 112determining performance of the transaction based on a result of theprocessing of all the plurality of transaction tasks, the execution ofmultiple transaction tasks defined by the plurality of clauses should bean atomic operation, that is, only if all transaction tasks are executedsuccessfully, the current transaction defined by the transaction requestis successful. If any transaction task fails, the current transactionfails. In this way, when the transaction initiator initiates a batch oftransaction tasks to be processed, it is possible for the initiator orthe management device to only monitor whether the current transactionincluding the multiple tasks are processed successfully as a whole,without monitoring whether each task is successful or not.

In some embodiments, in addition to the transaction task field, thetransaction request further includes at least one field indicating atleast one of the following: an identifier of an associated transaction(i.e., an associated transaction ID) on which the transaction associatedwith the transaction request depends, a transaction nonce, a referenceof a block into which the current transaction is to be packaged, thenumber of blocks after which the current transaction expires startingfrom the reference of the block into which the transaction is to bepackaged, a coefficient for transaction fee calculation, a maximumtransaction fee that the transaction initiator is willing to pay for thetransaction, a reserved field for backward compatibility, signatureinformation of the transaction initiator, and a last byte of theidentifier of a genesis block of the blockchain 110. It would beappreciated that although the transaction request has been described asincluding the above one or more fields, in some other cases, thetransaction request may include other fields required by thetransaction.

Hereinafter, some of the above at least one field will be described indetail in connection with some specific embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

In some embodiments, the at least one field includes a DependsOn fieldthat indicates a transaction ID on which the current transactiondepends. That is, the processing of the current transaction depends onthe successful processing of the transaction indicated by thetransaction ID in the DependsOn field. In some embodiments, saidsuccessful processing of the transaction may mean that the transactionwas successfully processed (i.e., no error is returned), and the resultof the transaction has been recorded in the blockchain. In some otherembodiments, said successful processing of the transaction may only meanthat the result of the transaction has been recorded in the blockchainregardless of whether it was successfully processed. The user or themanagement device 114 may specify the meaning of “successful processingof the transaction” in advance.

In case that the plurality of fields include the DependsOn field, themethod 200 may further include, before processing the plurality of tasksat block 204, determining whether the associated transaction indicatedby the transaction ID in the DependsOn field has been processedsuccessfully, and enable the processing of block 204 only if it isdetermined that the associated transaction has been successfullyprocessed (not shown).

In some traditional blockchain transaction model, the transactionprocessing node can process a plurality of transactions from the sametransaction initiator one by one in a predetermined order, for examplein a numerical order indicated by respective nonce indicated in thetransactions. However, for the plurality of transactions from differenttransaction initiators, it is difficult for the above traditionalblockchain transaction model to specify the execution order of thesetransactions. In some other traditional blockchain transaction model, asmart contract may be configured to specify the execution order of themultiple transactions. However, deploying a smart contract to ablockchain platform will be complex and expensive.

Therefore, in the solution described herein, with the DependsOn field,it is possible for the user or the management device 114 to easilyspecify the execution order of multiple transactions, even though themultiple transactions are from different transaction initiators. Forexample, Alice may set up a transaction for Bob, and use the DependsOnfield to define that the transaction for Bob can only be executed aftera transaction with the transaction ID preset by Alice is completedsuccessfully. For example, Alice may specify that a second transactionshould be automatically initiated to transfer a certain amount of feefrom Alice's account to Bob's account only if a first transaction hasbeen completed successfully. In this case, the transaction request forthe second transaction should include a DependsOn field in which thetransaction ID of the first transaction is included. Thus, thetransaction model according to embodiments of the present disclosureprovides a much easier and lower cost approach of processingtransactions in a specified order.

In some embodiments, the at least one field includes a BlockRef fieldthat indicates a reference of a block into which the current transactionshould be packaged. That is, instead of packaging the currenttransaction according to processing order or buffering order oftransactions in the blockchain, the user or the management device mayspecify to package the current transaction into a certain block. In someembodiments, the BlockRef field may include 4 bytes for indicating theblock height of the block (i.e., the absolute position of the block) topackage the current transaction. In some other embodiments, the BlockReffield may include 8 bytes, the first 4 bytes indicating the block heightof the block to package the current transaction and the last 4 bytesindicating whether a previous block of the block for packaging exists.For example, if the previous block exists, the last 4 bytes may be partof the block ID of the previous block, while if the previous block doesnot exist (i.e., the current transaction should be packaged into a“future” block), the last 4 bytes may be set to all “0” (because the IDof the previous block of the block for packaging does not yet exist).

In case that the plurality of fields includes the BlockRef field, themethod 200 may further include, after processing the plurality of tasksat block 204 or after determining that the current transaction issuccessfully processed at block 206, determining a block from theBlockRef field and packing the transaction (i.e., data associated withthe processed plurality of tasks of the transaction) into the determinedblock (not shown).

In some embodiments, the at least one field includes an Expiration fieldthat may be used to determine the expiration time of the currenttransaction. Herein, expiration means discarding or stopping processingthe current transaction. For example, the Expiration field may indicatethe number of blocks (i.e., block interval) after which the currenttransaction expires starting from the block indicated in the BlockReffield. In this case, the expiration time of the current transaction maybe determined from the combination of the BlockRef field and theExpiration field. For another example, the Expiration field may directlyindicate the expiration time of the current transaction such as theheight or the reference of the “expired block”. In some embodiments, theExpiration field may include 4 bytes.

In case that the plurality of fields includes the Expiration field, themethod 200 may further include, before determining that the currenttransaction is successfully processed, determining whether a presetblock is reached based on the Expiration field or the combination of theBlockRef field and the Expiration field and causing the transaction toexpire if it is determined that the preset block is reached.

In the solution described herein, by configuring the Expiration field inthe transaction request and causing the transaction defined by thetransaction request to expire based on the Expiration field, it ispossible for the transaction initiator to expire the transactionsinitiated by him. With such a configurable feature, the transactioninitiator would no longer be troubled by the situation that atransaction was stuck for hours or even days to wait to be processed,and the transaction initiator could do nothing about it. With theExpiration field in the transaction requests, the transactions will besafer since it may prevent the transactions from being hijacked andlater re-used to cause problems.

In some embodiments, the at least one field includes a Nonce field forindicating a transaction nonce. The Nonce field may be used to calculatethe transaction ID. By setting the Nonce, the user or the managementdevice 114 may affects the calculation of the transaction ID, whichensures that each transaction has a unique transaction ID.

In some embodiments, the at least one field includes a GasPriceCoeffield for indicating a coefficient for transaction fee calculation, aGas field for indicating a maximum transaction fee that the transactioninitiator is willing to pay for the current transaction, a Reservedfield for backward compatibility, a Signature field for indicatingsignature information of the transaction initiator; and a ChainTag fieldfor indicating a last byte of the identifier of a genesis block of theblockchain 110 for preventing the cross-chain replay attack. Herein, thesignature information of the transaction initiator is a signaturegenerated by the transaction initiator signing all the other fields inthe transaction request with the private key of the transactioninitiator.

Regarding the unique identifier of the transaction (i.e., thetransaction ID), in some embodiments, it is generated based on thetransaction request and an address of the transaction initiator. Forexample, the identifier of the transaction may be generated by hashingthe address of the transaction initiator and a part of the plurality offields. The part of the plurality of fields may be all fields in thetransaction request excluding a field indicating signature informationof the transaction initiator. For example, in the VeChainThorblockchain, every transaction is given a unique transaction ID (i.e.,TxID). The transaction ID can be calculated based on the followingformula (1):

TxID=hash(hash(Ω),signer_addres)  (1),

where Ω represents all the fields in the transaction request excludingthe Signature field. The “signer_addres” represents address of thetransaction initiator. By excluding the Signature field in determiningthe transaction ID, any entity in the blockchain (the terminal device,the management device or the blockchain nodes, for example) maycalculate the transaction ID without the signature of the transactioninitiator.

In some traditional blockchain transaction model, for example, theaccount nonce is used as a counter to ensure that each transaction canonly be processed once. Although it provides a solution to preventreplay attacks, in practice, a transaction can be executed only when itsnonce is equal to the transaction initiator's account nonce. Atransaction might fail for a number of reasons, for example,insufficient account balance to complete the transaction, or transactionfees exceeding a limit specified by the transaction initiator. If thereis a transaction failed, the account nonce would remain unchanged, whichwould result in all the transactions with larger nonces being rejectedby the blockchain nodes. Therefore, in the traditional blockchaintransaction model, if a transaction initiator sent out multipletransactions at the same time (which is very likely for an enterpriseuser when he/she, for example, registers products or updates records),once one transaction failed, all other transactions with larger nonceswould be rejected by the blockchain nodes.

By contrast, in the solution described herein, when validating a giventransaction, the management device 114 and/or the transaction processingnode 112 computes a transaction ID (i.e., TxID) associated with thetransaction request, and checks whether the computed transaction ID hasbeen used before, instead of checking the current account nonce. Themanagement device 114 and/or the transaction processing node 112 willrejects any transaction whose transaction ID already exists. Bygenerating the transaction ID by hashing the transaction initiatoraddress and the part of the plurality of fields in the transactionrequest and rejecting any transaction whose transaction ID alreadyexists, it is possible for the management device and/or the transactionprocessing node 112 to prevent the replay attacks.

Moreover, in the solution described herein, by generating thetransaction ID by hashing the address of the transaction initiator andall the fields in transaction request except the Signature field, forany two transactions, as long as they had a field with different values,their transaction IDs would be different. Therefore, it is possible togenerate a new transaction ID by adjust the transaction nonce includedin the Nonce field. With such a mechanism, the transaction initiator caneasily produce multiple transactions with different transaction IDs,which means that the multiple transactions could be sent off at the sametime and would be processed by the transaction processing nodesindependently.

In some embodiments, in the method 200, the transaction processing node112 may determine a transaction fee for processing the transaction. Thetransaction fee refers to the cost for processing the blockchaintransaction, which is usually paid by the transaction initiator to thetransaction processing node 112 for processing the transaction.Transaction fees may be fixed or not fixed, which depends on theconsensus mechanism of the different blockchains. In some embodiments,the transaction fee for the blockchain node for processing thetransaction consists of two parts, one being a fixed expense and theother being a non-fixed expense. In some embodiments, the non-fixedexpense may be determined on the basis of the content of tasks to beprocessed, such as the computational complexity or resources to beconsumed for the tasks.

Different types of transaction tasks may vary greatly in terms ofcomplexity or resources to be consumed. In some embodiments, thenon-fixed expense of the transaction fee is determined based on at leasttypes of the plurality of transaction tasks and data for the pluralityof transaction tasks such as the data in the above third informationelements of the plurality of clauses. In some embodiments, the data forthe plurality of transaction tasks includes at least program codes foraccount initialization or input data. In some embodiments, the types ofthe transaction tasks for example include transferring an amount ofcryptocurrency to the non-smart-contract address, calling a smartcontract or deploying a new smart contract.

In some embodiments, the transaction processing node 112 determines thenon-fixed expense based on the number of bytes of the third informationelements in the plurality of clauses being equal to a first predefinedvalue and the number of bytes of the third information elements in theplurality of clauses being different from the first predefined value. Insome embodiments, the first predefined value is zero.

Regarding the transaction fee, in some embodiments, it may be calculatedby the following formula (2):

g _(total) =g ₀+Σ_(i)(g _(type) ^(i) +g _(data) ^(i) +g _(vm) ^(i))  (2)

where g_(total) represents the calculated transaction fee (for examplethe transaction fee in unit of gas) for processing the transactiondefined by the transaction request; g₀ represents a fixed expense forthe whole transaction; i represents a serial number (i.e., i^(th)clause) among the plurality of clauses included in the transaction taskfield of the transaction request; g^(i) _(vm) represents the expensereturned by a virtual machine in a blockchain node (the transactionprocessing node 112 or the management device 114) executing thetransaction task indicated by the i^(th) clause; g^(i) _(type)represents the expense depending on the type of the transaction taskindicated by the i^(th) clause; and g^(i) _(data) represents the expensedepending on the data in the third information element of the i^(th)clause.

For example, the fixed expense g₀ is 5000 gas. If a transaction taskindicated by the i^(th) clause is to deploy a smart contract, then theg^(i) _(type) is 48000 gas, and if the i^(th) clause indicates othertypes of transaction task, for example, transferring an amount to anaccount, then g^(i) _(type) is 16000 gas. In some embodiments, g^(i)_(data) may be calculated by the following formula (3):

g _(data) ^(i)=4*n _(z) ^(i)+68*n _(nz) ^(i)  (3)

where n^(i) _(z) represents the number of bytes being equal to zerowithin the data in the third information element of the i^(th) clause,and n^(i) _(nz) represents the number of bytes being different from zerowithin the data in the third information element of the i^(th) clause.In some embodiments, the transaction fee may be multiplied by the gasprice.

In the solution described herein, by including multiple tasks within onetransaction request and processing the multiple tasks through a singletransaction procedure, the fixed expense can be saved. For example,given the fixed expense for a transaction, if there are three tasks tobe completed, compared to perform the three tasks through threeindependent transaction procedures, twice of the fixed expense will besaved by performing the three tasks through a single transactionprocedure according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of an electronic device 400 adaptedto implement an implementation of the subject matter described herein.The device 400 may be used to implement one or more hosts (e.g., themanagement device 114, the blockchain nodes 112-1, 112-2 to 112-N fortransaction processing shown in FIG. 1) of management transaction system100 shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 4, the device 400 comprises acentral processing unit (CPU) 401 which is capable of performing variousactions and processes in accordance with computer program instructionsstored in a read only memory (ROM) 402 or computer program instructionsloaded from a storage unit 408 to a random access memory (RAM) 403. Inthe RAM 403, various programs and data as required by operation of thedevice 400 are stored. The CPU 401, the ROM 402 and the RAM 403 areconnected to one another via a bus 404. An input/output (I/O) interface405 is also connected to the bus 404.

The following components of the device 400 are connected to the I/Ointerface 405: an input unit 406 including a keyboard, a mouse, or thelike; an output unit 407 including various displays, loudspeakers andthe like; the storage unit 408 such as a disk, an optical disk or thelike; a communication unit 409 such as a network card, a modem, awireless communication transceiver or the like. The communication unit409 allows the device 400 to exchange information/data with otherdevices through a computer network such as the Internet and/or varioustelecommunication networks.

The processing unit 401 performs various methods and processingdescribed above, for example, performs the methods 200 and 300. Forexample, in some embodiments, the methods 200 and 300 may be implementedas a computer software program, which is stored in a machine-readablemedium, for example the storage unit 408. In some embodiments, part ofor all the computer program may be loaded into and/or installed on thedevice 400 via the ROM 402 and/or the communication unit 409. When thecomputer program is loaded to the RAM 403 and executed by the CPU 401,one or more operations of the methods 200 and 300 described above may beperformed. Alternatively, in other embodiments, the CPU 401 may beconfigured in any other proper manners (e.g., by virtue of a firmware)to perform one or more actions of the methods 200 and 300.

It needs to be further appreciated that the present disclosure may beimplemented as a method, an apparatus, a system and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent disclosure.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium comprises the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present disclosure may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like,and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present disclosure.

Aspects of the present disclosure are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of thedisclosure. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which may implementaspects of the functions/actions specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which are executed onthe computer, other programmable apparatus, or other device mayimplement the functions/actions specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, a segment, orportion of codes, which comprises one or more executable instructionsfor implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also benoted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted inthe block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example,two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or actions, or combinationsof special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

The depictions of the various embodiments of the present disclosure havebeen presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intended to beexhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Many modificationsand variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skilled in the artwithout departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

What are described are only preferred embodiments of the presentdisclosure, and not intended to limit the present disclosure. Thoseskilled in the art appreciate that the present disclosure may havevarious modifications and variations. Any modifications, equivalentsubstitutes and improvements within the spirit and principles of thepresent disclosure all fall within the protection scope of the presentdisclosure.

1. A method of transaction processing, comprising: receiving, at ablockchain node for processing a transaction in a blockchain, atransaction request comprising a plurality of fields, the plurality offields comprising a transaction task field, the transaction task fieldcomprising a plurality of clauses and each clause of the plurality ofclauses indicating one task of a plurality of tasks of the transaction;processing the plurality of tasks of the transaction; and only inresponse to successfully processing all the plurality of tasks,determining that the transaction is successfully processed.
 2. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality ofclauses comprises: a first information element indicating a recipientaddress associated with the task, a second information elementindicating an amount of cryptocurrency to be transferred to therecipient address, and a third information element indicating data forthe task indicated by the at least one clause.
 3. The method accordingto claim 2, wherein processing the plurality of tasks of the transactioncomprises: in response to determining that the first information elementis null, deploying a smart contract based on the third informationelement and transferring the amount indicated in the second informationelement to the smart contract, the data indicated by the thirdinformation element comprising program codes of the smart contract. 4.The method according to claim 2, wherein processing the plurality oftransaction tasks of the transaction comprises: in response todetermining that the first information element indicates a validaddress, determining whether the first information element indicates asmart contract address; and in response to determining that the firstinformation element indicates a smart contract address, executing asmart contract corresponding to the smart contract address based on thethird information element and transferring the amount indicated in thesecond information element to the smart contract, the data indicated bythe third information element comprising parameters for executing thesmart contract.
 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein processingthe plurality of transaction tasks of the transaction further comprises:in response to determining that the first information element indicatesa non-smart-contract address, transferring the amount indicated in thesecond information element to the non-smart-contract address.
 6. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein the task indicated by one of theclauses is not dependent on a further task indicated by a further clauseof the plurality of clauses.
 7. The method according to claim 1, whereinthe task indicated by one of the clauses is dependent on a further taskindicated by a further clause of the plurality of clauses such that thetask can be implemented only after the further task has beenimplemented.
 8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the pluralityof fields indicate at least one of the following: an identifier of anassociated transaction on which the transaction associated with thetransaction request depends, a transaction nonce, a reference of a blockinto which the transaction is to be packaged, an expiration field todetermine expiration time of the transaction, a coefficient fortransaction fee calculation, a maximum transaction fee that an initiatorof the transaction is willing to pay for the transaction, a reservedfield for backward compatibility, signature information of the initiatorof the transaction, and a last byte of an identifier of a genesis blockof the blockchain.
 9. The method according to claim 1, furthercomprising: determining whether the plurality of fields indicate anidentifier of an associated transaction on which the transactionassociated with the transaction request depends; in response todetermining that the plurality of fields indicate the identifier of theassociated transaction, determining whether the associated transactionhas been processed successfully; and in response to determining that theassociated transaction has been processed successfully, enabling theplurality of tasks of the transaction to be processed.
 10. The methodaccording to claim 9, wherein the transaction is associated with aunique identifier, and the unique identifier of the transaction isgenerated based on the transaction request and an address of aninitiator of the transaction.
 11. The method according to claim 10,wherein the unique identifier of the transaction is generated by hashingthe address of the initiator of the transaction and a part of theplurality of fields, the part of the plurality of fields being allfields in the transaction request excluding a field indicating signatureinformation of the initiator of the transaction.
 12. The methodaccording to claim 1, further comprising: determining a block based onone of the plurality of fields indicating a reference of the block intowhich the transaction is to be packaged; and packaging data associatedwith the processed plurality of tasks of the transaction into thedetermined block.
 13. The method according to claim 1, furthercomprising: in response to reaching a preset block based on theplurality of fields, causing the transaction to expire.
 14. The methodaccording to claim 1, further comprising: determining a transaction feefor processing the transaction, the transaction fee comprising at leasta fixed expense and a non-fixed expense.
 15. The method according toclaim 14, wherein the non-fixed expense of the transaction fee isdetermined based on at least respective types of the plurality of tasksand data for the plurality of tasks, the data for the plurality of tasksbeing included in the plurality of clauses.
 16. The method according toclaim 14, wherein determining the transaction fee comprises: determiningthe non-fixed expense based on a first number of bytes of data for theplurality of tasks being equal to a first predefined value and a secondnumber of bytes of data for the plurality of tasks being different fromthe first predefined value.
 17. A device for transaction processing,comprising: a memory configured to store one or more programs; and aprocessing unit coupled to the memory and configured to execute said oneor more programs to cause the device to perform the method according toclaim
 1. 18. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium havingmachine executable instructions stored thereon, the machine executableinstructions, when executed, causing a machine to perform the methodaccording to claim
 1. 19. A computer program product being tangiblystored on a non-transient computer readable medium and comprisingmachine executable instruction, the machine executable instructions,when being executed, causing a machine to perform the method accordingto of claim 1.